April 12, 2011
LEADING OFF
-The No. 14/9 Missouri Tigers hit the road for a quick one day trip on Wednesday, when they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a 3 p.m. meeting with Northern Iowa.
-Mizzou picked up a two game sweep over then-No. 20 Texas A&M this past weekend to improve to 7-1 in Big 12 play. The Tigers took game one, 6-3, and won the finale, 3-0. Chelsea Thomas earned the win in both games, making her 17-3 on the year.
-The pair of victories over the Aggies improves Missouri's home winning streak to 30 straight, the longest streak in Division I softball. Mizzou is 15-0 at home this year and won their last 15 home games last season.
-Chelsea Thomas gave up only three runs in 14 innings last weekend, but saw her ERA rise from 0.58 to 0.67 on the year. Still, Thomas is tied for the best earned run average in all of Division I softball, as she's even with Florida's Stephanie Brombacher. Brombacher has missed the last several weeks due to injury and has just 15 appearances this season compared to Thomas' 24.
-With their 9-1 win last Wednesday over Evansville, 11 of Missouri's last 24 wins have come via mercy rule. Ten of those run-rule victories came in the month of March. Mizzou averaged 6.83 runs a game last month after averaging 3.88 in the month of February and gave up 1.26 runs per game in March.
-Timely hitting was a big factor in Mizzou's sweep over the Aggies last weekend. Of their nine runs scored, six came with two outs. The team hit .474 with two outs against Texas A&M, and is hitting .331 with two outs this season.
-After starting the year in an 0-for-20 slump at the plate, Lisa Simmons has emerged as of late and has been one of the best bats in the lineup for the Tigers. Since that start, Simmons is 12-for-30, good enough for a .400 batting average over that span. She's scored nine runs for the team and a career-best 12 RBI, while also providing spectacular defense in the outfield.
-The Tigers have 14 shutouts on the year, 12 of which came the month of March. They are walking just 1.40 batters per seven innings, the best in the conference. The staff's .175 opponent batting average is second amongst Big 12 teams. The team is second in the league in strikeouts per seven innings, as they average 9.01, and is third in the conference with a 1.37 earned run average. The team's 1.16 ERA during conference play is the best in the league.
-Freshman Maddison Ruggeberg has surprised a lot of people this year, emerging as one of the best hitters on the team in her first year of action. After a strong weekend against Texas A&M, Ruggeberg now leads the team with a .397 batting average. She's slugging .615 this season, second-highest on the squad, and has four home runs to go with 18 runs batted in. She's emerged as a big-time hitter during Big 12 play, as she's fifth in conference games with a .458 batting average.
-Ashley Fleming continued her great 2011 campaign with her ninth home run of the year on Wednesday in game one at Evansville. The junior also had nine home runs last season and now has 22 for her career - ninth most in school history. Six of her home runs this year have come in the last 12 games. She leads the team with 11 doubles, 38 RBI and an.784 slugging percentage.
SCOUTING NORTHERN IOWA
Coming into this midweek matchup with a 23-17 overall record, the Northern Iowa Panthers are 6-4 in their last 10 games. They are 7-5 on the year in the Missouri Valley Conference, and stand in fifth place in the league standings.
Hitting .276 as a team, Hannah Borschel leads the Northern Iowa regulars with a .333 batting average. She's scored 24 runs on the year and is second on the team with 12 doubles. Courtney Dunker leads the team with eight home runs, while Eranne Daugharthy has smashed seven of her own. In the circle, Jamie Fisher leads the way as the team's ace, appearing 22 times and putting together a 14-5 record. She's tossed 11 complete games and has struck out 129 batters while walking 31.
Missouri leads the all-time series against UNI by a 23-5 margin, and has won four straight meetings. Last year the Tigers won by a 3-0 final in Columbia.
FOLLOW LIVE
Each game will feature live scoring and play-by-play through GameTracker. Links to GameTracker can be found on the softball schedule page at mutigers.com.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Missouri hosts No. 15/14 Oklahoma in a pivotal Big 12 series at University Field this weekend. Both games will be nationally televised. Game one will air on Fox Sports Net, beginning at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, with Sunday's finale being broadcast on ESPN at 3 p.m.
FOLLOW MIZZOU SOFTBALL ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK
Tiger softball fans can follow along with the season through many of the program's social media options. On Twitter, Mizzou fans can follow the entire athletic department at twitter.com/mutigersdotcom. Assistant Coach Pete D'Amour is also on Twitter at twitter.com/MizzouSBcoach. On Facebook, fans can search "University of Missouri Softball Team" to track down the team's official page.
MIZZOU'S HOME WINNING STREAK LONGEST IN NATION
With Georgia's loss to Tennessee on April 6, coupled with Mizzou's home sweep over Texas A&M last weekend, the Missouri Tigers now own the longest winning streak in all of Division I College softball with 30 straight wins on their home turf. Here's a look at the longest home streaks in the country.
1. Missouri - 30
2. Arizona State - 25
3. Hofstra - 19
4. Tulsa - 18
T5. Alabama - 17
T5. Texas - 17
T5. Texas A&M - 17
Playing at University Field has been a major advantage for the Tigers since head coach Ehren Earleywine took over in 2007. In 119 games played at home under Earleywine, the Tigers have won 102 of them for an .857 winning percentage on their home field. Of their 17 losses, 13 of them came in two combined seasons. In Earleywine's first year the Tigers went 17-7 at home, and in 2009 they went 17-6. In 2008, Mizzou finished 22-1 at home while last year they went 31-3. So far this year the Tigers are 15-0.
THOMAS WINS THIRD BIG 12 HONOR OF SEASON
For the third time this season and fifth time in her career, redshirt sophomore Chelsea Thomas has been selected as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, as announced Tuesday by the league office. Thomas shares this week's honor with Texas sophomore Blaire Luna. The Pleasantville, Iowa, native earned this award on March 8 and March 29 of this year.
Going 3-0 on the week, Thomas opened up play on Wednesday with a victory over Evansville in the second game of a doubleheader. The Tiger righty threw four of the five innings in Missouri's 9-1 run-rule victory, striking out six while allowing just one hit and zero walks. She picked up two wins over then-No. 20 Texas A&M this past weekend, throwing two complete games against the Aggies. On Saturday, Thomas scattered five hits, walked four and struck out eight while giving up three earned runs. She followed that up with a shutout on Sunday, tossing seven innings, giving up four hits and striking out nine.
POWER SURGE
With 44 home runs through 37 games, the Tigers have shown a major increase in power compared to last season. In 2010, the Tigers had just 28 home runs and 191 RBI through the first 37 games. Ashley Fleming and Marla Schweisberger led the team with five home runs each at that point and 10 Tigers in all had home runs. This year, 14 Tigers have hit long balls and they've driven in 208 as a team. Fleming leads the team with nine home runs, matching her total from last year, and Nicole Hudson has eight after leading the team with 10 last season. The squad is slugging .075 points higher at this point with a .515 slugging percentage compared to .440 last year through 37 games. Missouri finished with 62 home runs in 64 games last season. They are on pace to hit 64 home runs in 53 regular season games this year.
TIMELY HITTING LEADS TIGERS TO SWEEP OVER NO. 20 AGGIES
The Missouri Tigers returned home for the first time since mid-March and collected a big two game sweep over the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies, taking game one by a 6-3 score before shutting out Texas A&M 3-0 on Sunday. Chelsea Thomas picked up wins in both games to improve to 17-3.
On Saturday, with the teams scoreless and hitless into the fourth inning, the Aggies jumped ahead 1-0 in the top half of the inning by taking advantage of a leadoff walk by Rhiannon Kliesing. After the walk, Texas A&M moved the runner to second on a sacrifice bunt, and Kliesing then took third on a ground out. Down 0-1 in the count, Nicole Morgan delivered the first run of the game with a single into center field.
The Tiger offense was jump-started on Maddison Ruggeberg's one out RBI double in the bottom half of the inning, scoring Ashley Fleming, who drew a walk. A fielding error on a pop fly into the shallow outfield put runners on second and third base, setting up an RBI single by Catherine Lee. Lisa Simmons made it 3-1 Tigers as she followed Lee with a sacrifice fly into left, scoring Alaina Burkhart, the pinch runner.
Another three runs were tacked on in the bottom of the sixth, as a two out double by Simmons started the Missouri rally, scoring Taylor Duplechain on the play. Megan Christopher followed by sending the first pitch she saw through the left side, allowing Simmons to touch home, and Abby Vock followed by blooping a run-scoring double down the line in left field.
On Sunday, neither team produced much offense until the Tigers got things going with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Rhea Taylor busted out of her slump and jumpstarted the Missouri offense by leading the inning off with a bunt single and advancing to second base on an errant throw by the Aggie pitcher. She would move up to third on a ground out, and touched home when Ashley Fleming hit a slow roller back to Lindsey Sisk, the Texas A&M pitcher.
In the fifth, Taylor got the offense rolling again with a two-out single through the left side, roping the first pitch she saw past the third baseman. Moving up to third on the play was Abby Vock, who walked ahead of Taylor, and she scored when Jenna Marston hit a liner into the gap in left-center for a double. Princess Krebs added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, coming through with a pinch hit single back up the middle.
TAYLOR ACCEPTS INVITE TO NATIONAL TEAM TRYOUTS
Two-time All-America selection Rhea Taylor has accepted an invitation to the 2011 USA Softball Women's National Team, as announced Wednesday morning by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America. Taylor will join 20 others who accepted invitations and will compete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., from June 12-17.
The approximately 17 athletes selected to the USA Softball roster will compete in over seven different events in four different countries. Fans in the United States will get four opportunities to see the team in action with three exhibition stops scheduled as well as the World Cup of Softball IV, July 21-25, in Oklahoma City.
CAN'T K FLEMING
Junior Ashley Fleming has been one of the Tigers top hitters this year, and much of that is because she is so tough to strike out. This season, Fleming has struck out just eight times in 102 at bats while drawing 16 walks. From March 13 to April 2, she went 42 straight at bats without a strikeout, and has struck out only three times in her last 82 at bats.
Rhea Taylor RECORD TRACKER
Senior Rhea Taylor has rewritten the record books again, as she set a new school record for hits in a career and broke the Big 12's career stolen base mark this season. Taylor picked up three hits in a doubleheader against Drake, moving her within two of tying Mary Babb's 14 year old record of 262. At the Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, Taylor moved ahead of Babb with six hits in four games. The record-breaking hit came in her final at-bat against SLU, as she roped a triple to right-center field to put herself on top of the record book once again.
She also went 5-for-5 in stolen bases at the Missouri Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, tying her for the most stolen bases in Big 12 history. She broke Texas A&M's Sharonda McDonald mark of 153 stolen bases, who set the record in 2007, with a stolen base in the first inning against Arkansas on Wednesday, March 9.
Here's a look at what records she's tracking down this season:
-Batting Average: Already the all-time leader at Mizzou with a .411 career batting average, a record that is theoretically impossible for give relinquish before the end of the season (Jenna Marston is second all-time at .359, two others are tied for third all-time at .352), Taylor could also graduate as the Big 12 Conference's record holder as well. She currently holds that mark, ahead of former Husker Ali Viola, who hit .409 from 1996-98.
-Hits: Taylor is now fourth all-time amongst Big 12 hitters with 285 hits, just five shy of taking over third place. If she matches her three season average of 82 hits a year, she would find herself tied with Norrelle Dickson of Oklahoma, the conference's all-time hits leader at 328.
-Runs: Entering the season as Missouri all-time runs leader and eighth in the conference, Taylor is expected to flirt with the Big 12's all-time record as well. Dickson, who played for OU from 2004-07 and also holds the league's hits record, is the current record holder at 234. Taylor has 213 for her career and is up to third all-time in the Big 12. If she matches her yearly average of 61 runs, she'll find herself ahead of Dickson with 244 career runs scored.
She's also six total bases shy of jumping into the Big 12's all-time top-10. With 389 in her career, Taylor trails Kelly Osburn, former Baylor Bear, who is at 395. She's third all-time in the conference with 15 triples in her career.
MIZZOU ROLLS TO SWEEP OVER ACES
The No. 12 Missouri softball team swept Evansville in a doubleheader on Wednesday evening, taking game one by a 7-2 final before run-ruling the Purple Aces by a 9-1 score in the finale.
In game one, Nicole Hudson homered twice, both two-run shots, while Maddison Ruggeberg, Lindsey Muller and Alaina Burkhart collected two hits each and Mackenzie Sykes hit her second home run of the season. Kristin Nottelmann went the distance, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out a season-high 10 batters while walking zero.
The Tigers hit a season-best five doubles in game two and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Ashley Fleming hit her ninth home run of the year, driving home two on the play. Kathryn Poet plated two on a fifth inning double, while Lisa Simmons led the team with two hits. Chelsea Thomas picked up win number 15 with four innings of one hit ball, as she struck out six.